GreenHearts Farm via online grocery store: Relay Foods Richmond, VA

Monday, July 25, 2011 at 1:53pm

GreenHearts Farm goods can now be purchased locally at Relay Foods starting TODAY!!!! Aaaaahhhh!!! I'm so excited!  Those of you who are in Richmond and the surrounding area should check them out.  Here's the link to our goodies:

Jen's Entry to Slow Food USA: Table Talk: Taste Tradition: Black Eyed Peas

by GreenHearts Farms on Wednesday, June 8, 2011 at 12:48pm

Among my favorite memories are days spent in my grandmother's canning kitchen as a child. I remember sitting on my Grammaw Mills' knees while shelling black eyed peas into big silver bowls. All of the ladies would sit and shell for what seemed hours so we could have blacked eyed peas with cast-iron Johnny Cakes with cooked kale and collard greens for supper that evening.

 

I'd sit there as quietly as I could, in my cloud of curly hair and shell, with peas flying around, just to hear stories about Uncle Poker and how he lost his arm. How Grammaw met and married Granpaw for the hundredth time. And to hear them talk over what the weather had been or what was in the forecast. It was simple. It was Southern by the grace of God. It was special.

 

After the task of shelling was complete, the peas were cooked with tomatoes and salt and peppered to Granpaw's liking. I'd get a huge wedge of watermelon or cantaloupe and ask my Granpaw why on Earth he salted his slice of melon. Then I'd run off to see if there was a ball to catch with the cousins or look for daisies to pop the tops off.

 

To this day, I am reminded of the summers spent in the garden or in the canning kitchen at Grammaw Mills' when asked to think back about why this recipe is important to me. It is important to know your roots. It's important to know your people. It's important to pass it on.

 

I carry on the family tradition by keeping a large garden, sitting and shelling black eyed peas with my children and making a mess of Black Eyed Peas for family and for my friends.

Saying Grace,

Jen

 

 

GreenHearts BEPs

 

Ingredients

2 lbs. black-eyed peas, cooked and drained

6-8 tomatoes, diced

1 Tbsp. vegetable or canola oil

1 chopped onion

3 cloves minced garlic

2 - 3 Tbsp Bangarang! signature seasoning, (The spice blend is Virginia made and sold at Farm To Family, PatchWork Farms, GreenHearts Farm, Ashland Farmer's Market, My Manakin Farmer's Market, Mount Vernon Farm, Grapes of Taste, The Station Cafe, Ladysmith Village Farmers Market, Whole Foods Farmers Market)

2 Tbsp. local honey

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

 

Directions

1. In a large pot, cover BEP's with water. Bring to a boil and simmer until peas are cooked to your liking.  

2. Drain and set aside.

3. In a large pot or skillet, heat your oil to medium and cook your garlic and onion until translucent.  

4. Add the cooked BEPs, Bangarang!, tomatoes and honey and stir.

5. Set to simmer while stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.

6. Remove from heat.  

7. Stir in a bunch of cilantro leaves and enjoy while warm.

GreenHearts Farm's kitch is certified for her SHEBANGARANG! Chili! We just passed inspection with flying colors and our award winning (we're #1!!) vegan, gluten-free chili will be for sale at the farmers markets we are attending. Hooray! Starting with Whole Foods Market in Short Pump, Virginia.  Market begins tomorrow, Thursday, Mary 5th, 2011 from 4-7P. There you will find us with BANG! spices, SHEBANGARANG! chili and artisan POPs!

GreenHearts Farm would like to thank everyone who came out to the Chili Cook-off at the Richmond Raceway on April 16th, 2011! You all are the best and I hope you enjoyed the BANGARANG! and SHEBANG! chili.  I know the judges must have really enjoyed it since we WON the amateur competition! Thank you to all of our family, friends and fans. This win was for you!

Thanks to you, our dear fans, we will be getting a new certification for our farm kitchen for all to enjoy out SHEBANGARANG! chili year round. We are looking forward to an exciting future. Thank you for your support, encouragement and appetite!

Much Love,

Jen Lane

GreenHearts Farm

I got a phone call from my lovely sister, Julie, months back telling me about the 102.1 the X chili cook-off. It was right after I had an interview about my Bangarang! spice blends and my recipes that I post on my website using my spice and local ingredients. I felt like I had something to prove in a big way. I got in touch with the station and applied to be an amateur cook, I didn't even have a recipe at the time but I knew that I could do it. The station people were really excited for me. I told them all that I would be making a vegan chili using my certified spices. It would be my Bangarang! signature seasoning blended with my Shebang! spiced sugar blend. They were all very enthusiastic and helped me greatly with encouragement.

 

I told my family that I had entered into the contest but Julie would have to help me. I couldn't do it without my sister and best friend. As time went by, we went to the mandatory meeting at Clear Channel. My husband, Chris Lane, accompanied me to the meeting and we sat there in a conference room with all of these professional cooks and amateurs that had been doing this cook-off for decades. Some of them wore their chili shirts from years before to the meeting. They seemed like a pretty confident crowd of biker men and head bangers. I felt a bit out of place in the crowd. I'm very petite and I'm an artsy kinda farm girl. I'm from Culpeper, Virginia and reside in Caroline County. I don't get out into the big city very often. It was difficult just to get to the station!

 

I sat there, listening to the speakers say things like 60 gallons of chili must be made, the fire extinguisher has to be this type, hand washing stations, dish stations, cook stoves, big pots, propane has to be grounded, temperatures have to be this, outlets for fryers and thousands of cups and spoons. My head was spinning. I thought it was an accomplishment to write all of my cookbooks and cook for my family and friends since I was a kid, I have a certified kitchen for my BANG! spices and make lollipops and garden my heart out. I was out of my league.

 

I went home with my check list and just sat on it for a while. I had done all of my paperwork, received my temporary cooking permit, taken tests and passed. I was in but I didn't have a clue what to do next. So what do you do when you have no idea how to make 60 gallons of chili for 17,000 people while competing against 30 amateur cooks? Well, you make one batch of chili.

 

I knew that it had to vegan, because I wanted to eat it. It had to be gluten-free so my gluten-free friends could eat it. It had to showcase my spice blends so everyone would know how wonderful my BANG! spice blends are. So I went home and wrote out my chili recipe using nothing but my spices for seasoning. My sister had made a suggestion a couple months back to use coconut milk for the gravy since chili needs to have some good fats for flavor. I wanted my chili to be a bit like my favorite Thai red curry dishes using coconut milk and spices with lime and chopped cilantro. I put it all together in my head and it sounded delicious then I put it to paper. I went to market with my list and purchased all of the ingredients: four different kinds of beans, coconut milk, tomato sauce, sweet corn, purple onion and cilantro.

 

The very next day I chopped up all of the veggies, cooked the beans, milled my spices and put it all together in my big pot AND WOW! It was wonderful. I sat down and started multiplying from 2 gallons, 4 gallons, 8 gallons and so on, all the way up to 60 gallons. I priced everything and thought wow again. The ingredients alone were so expensive that without my husbands help, I couldn't afford to even purchase all of the ingredients from my business account. He, thankfully, loaned me the money so I could have the opportunity to make my dream into a reality. Everyone wanted me to back out because it was such a big expense and I had never cooked in a competition in my life. Let alone cook on such a large scale. I heard them and I would say "but didn't you ever want to do something extraordinary no matter what the cost?! I know I can do it". I didn't even care if no one liked the SHEBANGARANG! chili. This one was for me from God. I made a deal with Him that if I could do it under a certain amount of dollars then I was all in. He made it possible.

 

I ordered my ingredients under budget. I borrowed all of the camp stoves and turkey fryers, pots, ladles, shafing dishes from friends and family. I was even given a paddle by Mrs. Cockey, of Montpelier, which I will treasure always. I borrowed tulle for decorating and pots for plants that my sister brought. I borrowed table cloths, knives and cutting boards from my mother. I borrowed buckets from my friend McKenzie Payne. Her husband, Daniel, brought me more peanuts and limes when I ran out at the cook-off. My dear sister, Becky, brought a board to write on. I brought my dream, the ingredients, my BANGARANG! and SHEBANG! spice blends, measuring cups, table and tent to the Richmond Raceway.

 

The night before the cook-off. I had to get the cook packet from the radio station. My husband, Chris, had called Doc Thompson's radio show the day before and Doc had said that he wanted to try my chili. I had made a batch that day to be give to him because of my husband's encouragement. Chris told me that Doc Thompson is a foodie so make it good. Well it was good! But, I felt the need to push it a bit further and started thinking, what would really impress a foodie. So I looked around the kitchen at all of the limes I use for my Wendy City artisan lollipops made with fresh zested limes,sea salt and cane sugar. I thought about the coconut milk, and the Thai curry, then I started thinking Pad Thai. Good Pad Thai has to have a lime wedge and crushed peanuts. So I zested a few limes and crushed some peanuts. Threw in some cane sugar and some sea salt and gave it a good stir. I heated up a small bowl of chili, because by then I had eaten so much chili that I didn't really want more. I said to myself, "last bowl of chili for a while", sprinkled on the lime and peanut topping and put the spoon in my mouth. It was an explosion of flavor. And thought, oh my goodness, THIS IS IT!!! SHEBANGARANG! chili is born!

 

I put Doc's sample of the chili and the toppings in my sons lunchbox and drove to the station. They said Doc wasn't there, and I left with his chili sample and my cook packet. I went home and met my sister and husband for what would be the longest two days of my life! We packed up two cars until one in the morning then we all went to sleep. In the morning, in the drizzling rain, we jammed the rest of the ingredients and things into the already full cars and drove carefully to the raceway. Julie and I met with Becky and McKenzie and we began the unloading process.

 

We set up kitchen with the help of our neighbors that had trophies all over their tables from years won. They help us get started by unloading our cars to the tables under the tent because the wind and rain whipped all around my sisters Julie, Becky and myself. The fire marshall, Mike Parsley, came by and asked us if we had a fire extinguisher. I pointed it out to him and asked him quietly if he would light our camp stove for us because I didn't know how. He lit our stove in roaring wind, which took at least 15 minutes while we cut up purple onions and cilantro for the first batch, 8 gallons, of SHEBANGARANG! chili. We put all of our ingredients into the hot, 60 quart pot, and then we were in the game.

 

Becky and Julie womaned the shafing dishes and sampling to the endless lines of people coming to taste our SHEBANGARANG! chili. People were asking for bowls of it, to buy it, to put it in their hat, to put it in their beer cup. People would get in line again to have more. I was in the back tent cutting vegetables, zesting limes, chopping peanuts and making batch after 8 gallon batch of chili. Re-enforcements came in the form of my husband Chris and our friend Eric. They washed up and helped chop vegetables, stir the pot with the big paddle and keep up morale!

 

The lady from the station came by for a sample and we gave them a ladle of our chili plus a sprinkle of the topping at about one or two in the afternoon. The people were crazy over the chili. The vegetarian society came up to me while I was cooking to thank me for being there, people all around, meat eaters, veggie lovers, everyone loved the chili. I listened and stirred and my heart was afloat and aflutter with each compliment given to Julie and Becky for the chili.

 

They came again for our chili saying that it was in the top three round of judging. So someone ladled out another bowl with toppings and sent it out to be judged. We were all working away in this frenzy of sheer happiness and we had only one person say that they didn't want to try our vegan SHEBANGARANG! chili because there was no meat in it. Me and my team were so happy.

 

Chris came up to me and said that someone had just told him that we won. It didn't register and I didn't let it register because I didn't hear it from the horses mouth. We just started making another batch to feed the mob! The wind was even worse and cooks were starting to pack up. I asked the band of chili cooks next door why they were packing and they said because there was a tornado warning and the weather was apocalyptic. I just went back to the tent and kept cooking. When the wind would blow hard, we all grabbed a pole. About a half our later people started coming up to the tent saying that they had to try the winning chili. I just kept cooking because I couldn't believe it. Chris said that I should just go to the judging booth to check it out and see how we did.

 

My husband and I went, hand in hand, to the chili booth where a lady was yelling "Go tell GreenHearts Farm to get up here. They won." I piped up, "I'm GreenHearts!" and she said "this is your trophy. You won." She gave me my trophy and I beamed with pride. My dream came true. GreenHearts Farm won the chili cook off with my SHEBANGARANG! chili made with my spice and my recipe.

 

I made the victory lap back to the tent and we all hugged and took pictures. I felt like a hero. I held that trophy high for everyone to see that GreenHearts Farm was the champion. We won the title of best amateur chili!

 

Now we are getting our farm kitchen certified for our SHEBANGARANG! chili. People are buying up our BANG! spices like wildfire. This is my Cinderella story. This is my dream come true.

My name is Jennifer Brooks Lane, but you can call me Jen, and I'm proprietor of GreenHearts Farm in Caroline County, Virginia. Oh age, a lady never reveals her age. Where are you manners Tim?! hahah!

We have lived in Caroline for almost five years and are happily situated on a family farm in Caroline County. Here at GreenHearts Farm, we are vegetable growers, BANGARANG! spice blenders, artisan lollipop makers and cooks at heart! Loving to cook means loving the freshest ingredients.  If you want fresh ingredients you have to grow it yourself or buy from your local grower.

We were so successful at growing vegetables that GreenHearts Farm joined the Ashland Farmer's Market last growing season which is soon to reopen again for your plate and pleasure. Then we joined the Whole Foods in Short Pump Farmer's Market where it is a bit magical with all of our friends and fellow entrepreneurs on a Thursday afternoon during the growing season just hanging out and growing with more fans and friends. Then we found Farm To Family off of Mechanicsville Turnpike (across from the Showplace), a whole treasure trove of local foods. This is where you can buy local goodies everyday, rain or shine in their indoor market or on their bus! They have everything from my BANG! spice blends and lollipops, local vegetables and fruits, to annaB's gluten-free breads and cookies, grass-fed meats and dairy products, and local Twin Oaks Tofu made in Louisa County. Farm To Family has it all under one roof and it is cool in the summer and warmer in the winter.

GreenHearts Farm is also a producer for Patchwork Farms Co-op where you can buy all of your groceries on-line from local farmers and artisans.   All you do is click, pay and pick up your local eats at the Montpelier Arts Center on Thursday afternoons. You might even see us there, dropping off a delivery and samples. You can get bread from our friends at Macshack Acres who make the most wondrous cookies and breads made with flour from the Ashland Mill.  My favorite is their, well, I love it all but I would have to say my whole family adores her English Muffin Bread and we all agree it is best enjoyed on pan fried on an iron skillet. Oh my goodness! And you can get other things through Patchwork Farms, like my favorite local lip balm from Mac's Smack! It's made from one of my best friends in Hanover County and it is like "buhhhdddah" on your lips.  It is the wonderful and you should know about it.  No more picking up a random thing of lip balm at the store.  Get the best balm out there, and it is local, from Mac's Smack. Ladies, she even has some with a hint of color. My favorites are Simmer Down and Vanilla Bomb. Go get ya' some!

Friends, why buy bread from big companies when you can help out your fellow man or woman down the street.  That money goes right back into helping out your community and keeps your local food system safe. There's nothing like having just picked veggies on your supper table, with Dragonfly Farms grass-fed meats or Twin Oaks Tofu, GreenHearts Farm BANGARANG! signature seasoning giving it all the flavor you need, and washing it down with a cup of cold apple cider from the mountains of Virginia and topping it off with a ginormous cookie from Macshack Acres with your Mac's Smack lip balm in your pocket. HEAVEN!

Now here's a little about what we do at GreenHearts Farms for those wanting more! Here at GreenHearts we mill our own signature blend of spices in our certified farm kitchen.  The BANG! spices are a flight from sweet to heat and are so good that we used them in our grand prize winning chili at the Richmond Raceway over the weekend.  Now, I knew that it was the best batch of vegan, gluten-free chili that I had ever tasted but I did not know how it would stand up to the competition.  We must have razzle-dazzled the judges with our fresh veggies, beans and fruit but the flavor of our BANGARANG! signature seasoning (HEAT) combined with our SHEBANG! spiced sugar blend (SWEET) was the perfect compliment to one another. 

GreenHearts Farms cooked up 60 gallons of SHEBANGARANG! chili on Saturday.  My team was my husband and best friend, Chris Lane, my lovely sister and best friend, Julie Brooks, my darling sister and best friend, Becky Kuper, and the newest addition to our family friends, Eric, who was an extraordinary help in our tented kitchen, during tornado weather, and a Johnny on the Spot! Thank you all for your help in bringing home a victory for GreenHearts Farm and Caroline County. And as we all know, a cook behind the flames is only as good as her team having fun in open fire.  My friends and family were ladling, talking to each and everyone of the people who came to taste our SHEBANGARANG! chili, and doing it all with a smile on their face and love in their hearts. My friends and family are the best of men and women and most of them live right here in CaCoVa!

Don't worry though, GreenHearts Farms will be canning batches of SHEBANGARANG! chili in their certified farm kitchen for your supper tables.  It is beyond just chili, it is an experience in a bowl. So much flavor to be had in each spoonful.  I had a bowl of it just last night while we were having dinner al fresca.  And! I'm still miffed, because someone or something stole our butter right off of our table while I wasn't looking.  My family loves the butter over at Mt. Olympus on Route 1 in Caroline County. I woke up this morning thinking about where it went!

So in closing, dear Caroline, go out there and have fun getting your groceries and meeting your farm friends at all of the farmer's markets whether they be indoor, outdoor or online! Much Love to you all!

Jen

GreenHearts Farm

CaCoVa

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GreenHearts Farm

We are so excited for the Growing Season 2011 and our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program that we are offering to Caroline County, Virginia.  We are so happy to be able to bring nutritious, non-genetically modified vegetables, herbs and goods to your table and our heirloom vegetables are simply wonderful. These seeds and plants have not been altered since the late 1800's and early 1900's.  We require nothing but the best from GreenHearts Farm and our friends do appreciate the quality of produce we take pride in growing for you. The application to participate in the GreenHearts Farm CSA is limited so time is of the essence if you would like to have GHF vegetables and goods delivered to your home.  Please fill out the application and either mail it in the Post or you may attach it to an email and send it to us directly.  Please await your confirmation before purchasing your CSA share listed on our Products page.  

We will also be participating in a few local farmer's market which will be announced in our newsletter.  You may look for the newsletter in your email in-box after you have finished filling out the information provided for you in our contact page to stay informed to all of the current markets and events that we will be in attendance during the year.

We also have some fabulous GreenHearts Farm goods, listed on our Products page, that we make in the GreenHearts Studio and Certified Kitchen.  We have received rave reviews in regards to our Signature Seasonings and Spiced Sugar Blends as well as a tip of the cap to our all-natural lollipops, tie-dyed gifts, local corn pillows and whimsical jewelry.  All handmade by your favorite farmer, Jen, from GreenHearts Farm.

During the growing season we will be making wonderful jams and butters that will be offered seasonally as fruit and vegetables become plentiful and the GreenHearts Farm Kitchen Canning is in full swing.  We have many preserves to offer you at that time and they will be listed in our newsletters as they are grown in surplus on the Farm.  I can tell you right now, that our heirloom recipes are sure to bring you back to your Grammaw's kitchen with biscuits cooking in the wood stove and canned Damson plum preserves waiting to be slathered onto the piping hot buns, while sitting in a ladder back chair.  What sweet memories and future delights for those who purchase our GreenHearts Farm preserves.

So let us raise our forks in cheers for healthy eats and delicious treats provided for you by GreenHearts Farm.

A votre sante!

Jennifer Brooks Lane

Chris Lane

Pelham Lane

Kemper Lane

Falli Lane

GreenHearts Farm

Caroline County, Virginia